Soldiers, said Harry Truman, “must eat together, sleep together and all too frequently die together. There can be no friction in their everyday living that might bring on failure in battle.” When President Truman mandated the racial integration of America’s armed forces in 1948, he foreshadowed a legal battle that today has put American military leaders at odds with their Commander in Chief.
Truman’s words echo in a brief filed by a group of prominent retired military officers in the University of Michigan affirmative action case, the outcome of which could impact the military’s 30-year old practice of considering race in selecting officers. An officer corps that reflects the racial diversity of the enlisted ranks, the retired generals say, is good for morale, and necessary for national security.
Guests:
Roger Clegg, Vice President and General Counsel at the Center for Equal Opportunity
Tad Oelstrom, Director of the National Security Program, the Belfer Center Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and former Director, the United States Air Force Academy
Colonel Michael Jones, director of admissions, United States Military Academy at West Point.